VaynerMedia has named three senior leadership appointments in India, as the agency continues to scale its operations and deepen its commitment to the market. The appointments, spanning strategy, creative and media, signal the agency’s intent to build deep, creative and media integrated capability in India at a moment when the rules of brand marketing are being fundamentally rewritten.
Indian brands are navigating a market in transition. AI is reshaping how consumers discover brands. Platform algorithms increasingly reward cultural relevance over paid placements. And the traditional performance marketing playbook, built around reach, impressions and follower growth, is losing its edge. The brands that will win the next decade are those that build for relevance, not just visibility.
VaynerMedia’s answer to this is a social-first model that treats social not just as a marketing channel, but as the central driver of modern marketing and brand growth. The three appointments announced are the leadership team that will bring this model to life for brands in India.
P Sai Bhardwaj joins as group creative director, with 19 years of experience in brand storytelling, social-first ideas and creative leadership across Prime Video, RPSG Media Group and leading brand mandates for Amazon, Google India and Pernod Ricard, among others. He will shape VaynerMedia India’s creative output, with a focus on making social-native work that earns its place in culture rather than buying its way in.
Suruchi Makhija joins as senior director, strategy, bringing over two decades of experience at the intersection of strategy, creativity and content across GroupM, Publicis and Cheil Worldwide. Her mandate is to build a strategy practice rooted in VaynerMedia’s proprietary Platforms, Algorithms and Culture (PAC) framework that connects brands to culture in real time by translating consumer behaviour on modern platforms into tangible business outcomes.
Aveek Gupta joins as senior director, media, with more than 20 years across the agency, media and brand sides of the business at DDB Mudra, GroupM, Carat and Havas Media. His appointment reflects the agency’s view that media strategy and creative thinking must work as a single system, not in parallel silos.
Salman Moin, country manager, VaynerMedia India, said, “These appointments are a deliberate statement about where we are taking this agency in India. We are not building a team to carry out campaigns. We are building a team to transform how brands market themselves in a market that is moving faster than most brand playbooks can keep up with. India is one of the most social-native, culturally dynamic markets in the world, and the opportunity here for brands that get this right is enormous. We intend to be the agency that helps them get there.”
